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Wed, 27 Oct 2021
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Dinosaur Graveyard as Tourist Draw

As Jorge Calvo strode along the dusty banks of this Patagonian lake, he scanned the reddish dirt, pointing to the remains of a dinosaur in the desert sun.

Continuing on, he scampered down into an eight-foot pit and waved to Marcela Milani, a technician working with a thick nail and a hammer. She was chipping away at a rock looking for a missing hip bone believed to be part of Mr. Calvo's most famous discovery, Futalognkosaurus, a new genus of plant-eating dinosaur more than 100 feet long from tail to nose. It is one of the three biggest dinosaurs ever found.

dinosauars
©Joao Pina for The New York Times
Museums like El Chocón have sprung up in the past two decades around Neuquén, Argentina.

Binoculars

Study Says Grand Canyon Older Than Thought

Coming upon the Grand Canyon long ago, an old prospector is supposed to have said in amazement, "Something awful happened here."

The something appears to have started happening some 17 million years ago, geologists concluded in a study reported in Friday's issue of the journal Science. If correct, that is at least 11 million years earlier than previous estimates.

grand canyton
©Victor Polyak
Marble Canyon at Vasey's Paradise in the eastern Grand Canyon.

Bulb

Universe submerged in a sea of chilled neutrinos



Univese Neutrinos Dark Matter Energy Atoms
©NASA/WMAP Science Team
WMAP measures the composition of the universe by observing the cosmic microwave background, radiation that was emitted just 380,000 years after the big bang. Dark matter and atoms have become less dense as the volume of the universe has increased over time. Photons and neutrino particles also lose energy as the universe expands, but dark energy now dominates the universe even though it was a tiny contributor 13.7 billion years ago.

Better Earth

Earth's rotation may account for wayward spacecraft



boeing wideband global SATCOM satellite
©Unknown

Ark

Ancient Tomb Found on Greek Island

ATHENS, Greece - Road construction on the western Greek island of Lefkada has uncovered and partially destroyed an important tomb with artifacts dating back more than 3,000 years, officials said on Wednesday.

Star

Evidence Confirms Electric Comet Model

It appears that predictions made by Wal Thornhill and the Electric Comet model are being quickly confirmed, whether mainstream astronomers like it or not. In the end, it seems nature will be the arbiter of which model is the most accurate and predictive.

Snowman

New Method to Estimate Sea Ice Thickness

Scientists recently developed a new modeling approach to estimate sea ice thickness. This is the only model based entirely on historical observations.

The model was developed by scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow.

Using this new technique, the thickness of Arctic sea ice was estimated from 1982 to 2003. Results showed that average ice thickness and total ice volume fluctuated together during the early study period, peaking in the late 1980s and then declining until the mid-1990s. Thereafter, ice thickness slightly increased but the total volume of sea ice did not increase.

Pistol

Introducing the world's smallest gun that fires deadly 300mph bullets - but is just TWO inches long

Meet the pistol that fits in your pocket - and packs a hell of a punch.

The SwissMiniGun is the size of a key fob but fires tiny 270mph bullets powerful enough to kill at close range.

Officially the world's smallest working revolver, the gun is being marketed as a collector's item and measures just 2.16 inches long (5.5cm). It can fire real 4.53 bullets up to a range of 367ft (112m).

The stainless steel gun costs £3,000 although the manufacturers also produce extravagant, made-to-order versions made out of 18-carat gold with customised diamond studs which sell for up to £30,000.

Image
©National Pictures
At just over two inches long it is the world's smallest gun - but the 300mph bullets it fires mean it is still deadly

Star

Mars and Venus are surprisingly similar

Using two ESA spacecraft, planetary scientists are watching the atmospheres of Mars and Venus being stripped away into space. The simultaneous observations by Mars Express and Venus Express give scientists the data they need to investigate the evolution of the two planets' atmospheres.

Scientists call this work comparative planetology. Mars Express and Venus Express are so good at it because they carry very similar science instruments. In the case of the Analyser of Space Plasmas and Energetic Atoms (ASPERA), they are virtually identical. This allows scientists to make direct comparisons between the two planets.

Image
©ESA - D. Ducros
An artist's impression of Mars Express. The spacecraft left Earth for Mars on 2 June 2003. It reached its destination after a 6-month journey, and has been thoroughly investigating the planet since early 2004.

Star

Spitzer's Eyes Perfect For Spotting Diamonds In The Sky

Diamonds may be rare on Earth, but surprisingly common in space -- and the super-sensitive infrared eyes of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope are perfect for scouting them, say scientists at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.

Using computer simulations, researchers have developed a strategy for finding diamonds in space that are only a nanometer (a billionth of a meter) in size. These gems are about 25,000 times smaller than a grain of sand, much too small for an engagement ring. But astronomers believe that these tiny particles could provide valuable insights into how carbon-rich molecules, the basis of life on Earth, develop in the cosmos.

Image
©NASA/JPL-Caltech
This artist's concept shows a multitude of tiny diamonds next to a hot star. Diamonds are abundant in space.